The father of a boy who was left for dead by his mother is speaking out after the woman received probation.

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24-year-old Ashley Hautzenrader was sentenced last week to five years’ probation in lieu of a prison time. She pleaded guilty last month to child endangerment and to neglect or abandonment of a dependent person.

Authorities say Hautzenrader gave birth May 8, 2016, in a bathroom at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics and tried to flush the baby down a toilet. She then put the baby in a pillowcase and left it in the trash. The child was found alive.

Today, 16-month-old Matthew Addison is a healthy toddler.

The day before Hautzenrader allegedly left Matthew for dead, father Brandon Addison had been with her at an Iowa City hospital, caring for their other child Ahnna.

But he had to return to Davenport for work. The next morning, he received a horrifying phone call from the Iowa Department of Human Services informing him of the accusations against Hautzenrader.

"That is when my heart sank," Addison said. "All I could think of was, 'please let him be okay.' They said he was really cold and he needed to be put under a heating lamp."

Brandon says he believed that Hautzenrader could be pregnant and had confronted her about it.

"She had plenty of opportunities to tell me and I still don't know why she didn't," he said.

He wants to remind parents that there are other options if you have a child you cannot care for.

"If you cannot handle it, don't do what she did," he said. "Go out there and learn about safe havens and adoption agencies."

Brandon plans to tell Matthew what his mother did when he gets older.

"I'm going to have to sit him down and talk to him," he said. "Hopefully he'll be mature enough to understand what happened. It will initially be his decision to forgive her."